Ain't Worth Fallin' For
by Moogala
Summary: In the cold winter just after Hershel's farm became overrun Daryl Dixon and his broken crew come across the first new faces they've seen in months, only for Daryl they aren't so new. What does the southern man do when confronted by a past he'd somewhat forgotten? And will the old flame that one was rekindle? (Daryl/OC. Rated M for language and future sexual content.)
1. Familiar Faces

Hello my fellow Walking Dead lovers, for starters I'd just like to say that I do not own 'The Walking Dead' or any characters of the franchise, I'm kind of not allowed closer than 50 foot near Norman Reedus.. Damn restraining orders. Secondly I'll warn you that I am prone to making very terrible jokes, just like that one. Finally I'd love to hear some feed back from you guys, be it constructive or not although I do warn that _some_ of the writing has been purposely misspelt for effect.

Please enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

_Chapter One: Familiar Faces._

Daryl Dixon quietly took another one of his silent get aways from the rest of the group. Sometimes just being around them drove him crazy it was days like this he had to admit he missed his blunt, rude brother. For the most part though he could get through them, he and Carol had got close now, mostly thanks to how determined he was to find her little girl. The woods surrounding Hershal's farm house were Daryl's favourite place to be, they reminded him of the woods he used to hunt in. Besides hunting and keeping away from the constantly warring group were the only things keeping him sane at the moment. Right now they seemed pretty content, other than the fact that of the two children the group has one is missing and the other has been shot. Luckily Carl looked to be getting better, he was up quicker than most kids should be after getting shot at least. While out in the woods Daryl couldn't help but allow his mind to drift to thoughts of his brother, he was a good tracker so he needn't put all his thought into it plus after finding that house that someone had been holed up in he was feeling pretty good about his tracking right now. The extra leg work from a trusty old horse he may or may not have taken without asking from the farm helped a whole bunch more than he could've imagined. Just as he pulled up his crossbow taking aim at a squirrel on a nearby tree he pulled the trigger and as the arrow landed in the small creature Daryl got a shiver up his spine. He couldn't help feeling like he was being watched his eyes squinted to see if he could spot anything unusual but before they found anything else they landed on a small doll washed up in the river beside him, Sofia's small doll.

Just meters away from where the man and his steed were stood a silm curly haired brunette woman completely oblivious to each other. She was also hunting in the woods and her first kill was going to be a squirrel that she'd been following from tree to tree for about twenty minutes. Finally the pesky furry animal had stopped moving and just as she raised her hand up a knife gently resting between her thumb and forefinger a loud '_thhwhump_' came from her left and an arrow impaled her prey. The action made the woman pause in utter shock she was sure she recognised that arrow but she did not allow herself to dwell on that thought as she quickly turned to look in the direction that it came from her eyes were shocked to discover not only a man but a man on a horse.

"Well hello there cowboy..." She whispered to herself as her eyes landed on the side of the man's head. She didn't have a good view of his face but she was enjoying what she saw so far, his muscular arms and broad shoulders made her bit her lip slightly. She continued to hold her knife up beside her ear, she might not be able to trust this man. She got that twinge of recognition again when she surveyed him a bit further, then he shuddered and his head moved into light finally his face was in the brunette's view and she instantly wished she hadn't seen it. She had recognised that arrow and that body, the cowboy was no stranger to this woman. She did not want to believe what her eyes showed her, she was sure that this was some sick trick. As the man approached her however, his eyes seemed to now be set on something over by the river. She gasped and ducked into a tree, her small frame coming in handy now as she lifted herself into the tree with ease hiding on a low hung branch. As the man and his horse passed by beneath her she hid herself behind the thick trunk of the tree just as he tore his arrow, and his catch, out of the tree to her left. Not far off from her he got off his horse, the brunette had a few moments to think about what she was doing as she glanced round to catch another glimpse of him.

_'Why am I hiding?! It's another person!' _She thought to herself.

_'But I know this one, of all the people to run into in an apocalypse Daryl Dixon had to be the one.' _She sighed hitting her palm against her forehead as she pulled herself round the tree again.

_'Look on the bright side... It could have been his brother.'_ The brunette rolled her eyes at her own attempt at cheering herself up when suddenly;

"SOFIA!" The sound of his voice almost made her fall out of the tree although she couldn't help but feel a little soothed at the sound she always loved his accent, even if she only heard it briefly. She also had another feeling come over her, one she was all too familiar with when it came to Daryl Dixon; jealousy. Who was Sofia? Why was he putting his ass on the line for her? It was only when she peeked back around the corner to find him climbing back on his horse that she saw what he'd found at the river side. A small child's doll and that's when she realised he was out here looking for a kid, a little girl lost in the woods and then it made sense to her why Daryl was out here.

After a few moments of hope Daryl gave up on the area he'd found the doll and moved on following the stream in hopes that Sofia had done the same. He climbed back up on to his stolen horse which let out a few huffs in response then moved on slowly following the river side as slowly as possible. If he found Sofia he expected she wouldn't be in the best shape to walk let alone run after a horse so slow was better plus it gave him a chance to properly scout the area. As the horse slowly walked up a slight hill Daryl was sure he heard a rustling in the trees behind him. He pulled the horse to a stop and squinted in the direction the sound came from raising his cross bow he lowered his breathing and strained his ears for any sound but he heard nothing not even a distant moan he growled and ushered his horse to move on but didn't lower his bow. He came to a slight clearing on a small cliff above the river as he looked over the edge he got that same feeling on the back of his neck like someone was watching him. He threw his eyes back round to glare in the direction that sound came from again sure he wasn't just hearing things but just as his eyes settled on something, something he was sure he recognised his horse tore into the air into a panic jumping off it's front legs over and over until Daryl was thrown off then it ran off into the woods. While Daryl was thrown down the cliff rolling and thudding down the muddy terrain until finally he landed with a splash into the river.

The brunette woman witnessed the entire event, after accidentally getting his attention by leaping on to a weak branch and falling to the floor with as little sound she could manage, which still was too much for the hunter Daryl who almost saw her. She couldn't help but feel like his fall was her own fault, if he hadn't been busy looking her way he may have seen what spooked the horse, which she could see now was a snake hidden in amongst the dead leaves. The woman had ran to the clearing he had been at as soon as she saw him fall, her eyes fell on to the tumbling body of Daryl just as he landed. She held her breath waiting for a sign that he was okay.

"Please be alive..." She whispered to herself from her high point above him, her prayers were answered when she heard his voice.

"Son ov'a bitch!" He cursed and she couldn't help the smile that spread over her lips, only Daryl Dixon could take a fall like that without passing out. Her smile fell though when she saw the red blood staining the water around him something dropped in her stomach and before she could do anything else her body was moving to the nearest, safest, way down to him. She just managed to get down to him, with much difficulty and more than one leaps down that meant she wouldn't be able to get back up easily. When she got there though Daryl was gone, it wasn't hard for her eyes to follow his bloody trail over to the dry land he had found she got there just in time to hear him growl to himself as he tied his torn off sleeves around his chest. Now the short haired woman could finally see the arrow that had pieced his side, she couldn't help the smirk that came over her lips at what Daryl would be thinking right now.

_'He's probably cursing the fact that of all the shit that could have hurt him in the world today he's managed to hurt himself.' _She thought to herself it was only when he managed to pull himself up and started searching the floor for something when the woman realised she was just stood out in the open staring at him she panicked silently running into the bushes grabbing the first tree she could find and pulling her slender frame into it. Just as she managed to -proudly- get herself hidden without making a sound she saw Daryl looking off into another direction to a rustling bush and this time it wasn't her. She glared over to the bush too as Daryl realised his bow was missing and went to search through the lake for it the woman climbed across branches placing herself so that she was above deep enough water that she could jump into if things got bad for Daryl. Her eyes remained locked on the bushes across from him though as he started to try and climb the cliff he was faced with. She could hear his moans and growls in pain from where she was though and couldn't stop her eyes from drifting over to him in worry.

_'I need to help him! He's in a lotta pain...'_

_'Who am I kidding? The second Daryl Dixon sees my face he'll go insane, he may be wounded but I know better than most how Daryl can get when he's pissed... Besides he's practically halfway there already just on his own.' _The brunette tried to reassure herself he was almost out of her eye line now and just as she was about to leave her tree and move a bit closer she saw the stick he was carrying drop. She was sure she heard him speak too then just when she thought she saw him catch a good branch something slipped and he went rolling back down the hill again. A gasp left her lips as she struggled to watch him writhe in pain after the fall when finally his eye lids dropped and he passed out. The brunette stared at him for what felt like forever willing him to sit up to wake up, show some sign that he was okay.

_'Get over there! He's passed out! What's he going to do to me while he's passed out!?'_

_'What if he's only resting his eyes for a minute, if he opens them to see me I doubt he'll be happy, I'm just going to give it a second longer.' _She thought to herself watching his figure laying in the dirt of the river side she couldn't help the worry that came over her body as she watched him lay there covered in mud and blood. Just as she started to move from her perch ready to slip into the water and try to wake him up she heard him speak.

"Merle..." He whispered in a hushed croaked voice the name made the woman stop in her tracks, was the bastard brother here? Was he looking at her right now and she didn't even realise? Merle was always better at catching her out than Daryl was, though she always believed that was only because Daryl liked her following him around. Daryl spoke again as though he was having a conversation with Merle, she pulled herself back into her tree and stared over to Daryl once more just to make sure Merle really wasn't there.

"Tried like hell to find you, bro'" She heard Daryl speak again, he was delirious, exhausted and exposed and by the sounds of his words he'd lost Merle. As she continued to try and listen to what he was saying she heard something she didn't want to hear a monstrous growl her eyes shot down, below her low hung branch was a rotter who looked a little too interested in Daryl.

"God dammit Daryl..." She growled to herself spinning over so she was laying with her back on the branch she pulled out one of her knifes from her belt of twenty and threw it at the now moving, towards Daryl, rotter her knife hit it square in the forehead and the rotter fell forwards into the lake beneath her.

"Fuckin' rotters!" She hissed as her eyes moved back to Daryl now and she spotted at least two more in the bushes around Daryl as well as two near herself. "_Fuckin'_ rotters!" She spoke now falling out of her tree and into the lake with the dead floating rotter. The two rotters who she'd spotted near Daryl had spotted him and one was far too close for her liking as quick as she could the knife wielding brunette pulled out another one of her belted weapons and within seconds it was embedded into the head of the rotter between her and Daryl. She knelt down her hand searching for something in the water under the floating rotter, she quickly found the colourful straps she tied to each of her knifes and yanked it out of the floaters head. Just in time too as seconds later she heard a growl and a splash behind her, one of the rotters she'd spotted near her earlier was now right behind her. She had to hold in the scream she felt about to leave her mouth but she swiftly stood up and brought her knife up with her as she did thrusting it into the top of the female rotters skull. She let out a growl as she pulled her knife back out and turned back to look at Daryl, more rotters had become attracted to his delusional mumblings. She ran over to him, uncaring about him seeing her for the moment as she passed the rotter she'd taken down between them she made sure to duck down catch the fabric that was tied around the bottom of the hilt of her knife and yank it up into her palm slinging another knife at a rotter that was up behind Daryl.

"Hey!" She yelled at him hitting his chest as she ran past and grabbed the knife from the rotter she'd just taken down. Daryl's head moved slightly he seemed to be stirring for the moment they were okay there were two more rotters one male one female, the female was closer but not close enough to worry the brunette. Her eyes took in the rest of the area before she fell to her knees beside Daryl.

"Daryl!" She whispered to him. "Come on! Get up!" She hissed again this time taking his face in one of her hands and giving him a light slap.

"Come on! Get. Up!" She hissed a little too loudly this time as both rotters heard her and were now on their way over.

"Shit Daryl!" She whispered standing up now, her saying his name again made him moan her eyes fell back down to him and she could see he was stirring now. This thought made her panic more than the two rotters that were heading their way.

"Fuck!" She whispered looking from the looming rotters to Daryl and back again she aimed for the female who was now far too close for the huntress' liking. She threw the knife getting her clean in the head the rotter fell backwards with her knife embedded in her head. Daryl moaned again making the brunette look over to him, his eyes opened now and that was all it took for the woman to run off to the left jumping into the trees and hiding as best she could. Only she'd forgotten all about the other rotter who was now feet away from Daryl the woman went to pull out her 'go-to' knife, the one in the front left hand side of the belt only to realise she was one knife down. Her eyes landed on the female rotter laying a foot away from Daryl with her knife stuck in it's head.

"_Fuck!"_ She growled, the last thing she wanted was for Daryl to see one of her knives, though she couldn't be sure he'd even recognise it, not like she recognised his arrow. Her thoughts were torn from her when she saw the male rotter step over the dead female one, now he was so close he had knelt down and grabbed one of Daryl's feet ready to bite into it. The brunette worked fast tearing one of her knives from it's holster and just as she pulled her arm back to throw Daryl woke up kicking the rotter in the face knocking it to the side. The pair then got into a scuffle and the huntress couldn't get a clear shot of the rotter without fear she'd hit Daryl.

"Come on Daryl..." She whispered to herself just as he got hold of a large stick and beat the rotter with it. Although a gory way to do it the brunette couldn't help the smile that came across her face he was okay he was safe, she thought until she saw the approaching rotter that Daryl had already spotted he pulled the arrow he'd impaled in himself earlier out and put it into his bow shooting the rotter down instantly and not a second too soon as the rotter was almost on top of him. The huntress let out a sigh of relief taking a second to fall back into the grass and just rest for a moment as Daryl did too.

After a while the brunette sat up looking over to Daryl she smiled to herself as she just watched his chest rise and fall she missed him, she knew that, wasn't he half the reason she agreed to come back down the Southern way? There wasn't much else down here for her, not any more. Unfortunately Daryl wasn't here for _her_ either, he wasn't hers in any sense of the word. Although for a girl who has just found her real sole reason for travelling over 500 miles in a dead world she has been pretty terrible about approaching him. Her mind remained on that thought as she stared at Daryl's sleeping body, she could walk up to him now, take care of his wound, wash some of the blood off of his face, he didn't look half as terrifying to her when he was asleep. Just as her feet decided for her and stood her up taking a step forward Daryl stirred awake taking in a few deep frightened breaths, the brunette gasped grabbing the first strong branch she saw and pulling herself on to it, higher was always safer, from rotters and Dixon's. Her grey eyes remained glued to Daryl as he pulled himself up and took off his over shirt. The brunette couldn't help her eyes wandering as he pulled the shirt off she eyed his dirty, sweaty chest with lust and as he tied the shirt around himself, with much pain, she noted his arm muscles tightening. She remembered his big strong arms with a shudder her eyes closed as she remembered what it was like to be in those arms. Her grey orbs were shown once more when she heard Daryl start to move again, something had got his attention, the dead floating rotter that she had taken down at the start of the rush. Then his eyes moved to the female one just feet from where he was laying he walked straight up to it and tore out the knife, her knife. He pulled the colourful fabric attached to the end so that it lie across his palm, he stared at it in utter confusion for a few seconds before looking around the surroundings the huntress ducked back laying hidden on her branch and held her breath. She heard him move back over to where he was stood and mumble something to himself deciding this was probably a good sign that he was no longer looking in her direction she plucked up the courage to peek back round at him. Her eyes landed on him just as he tucked her knife into the back of his jeans.

_'Dammit, if he remembers those knives from our childhood..'_

_'He might be overjoyed and instantly try to find me to tell me how much he's missed me..?'_

_'Ha, that'd be the day...'_ The woman rolled her eyes at her own naïve thoughts _'Besides just think how Matt would react to the sight of Daryl Dixon walking into the camp!' _She thought once more to herself as her eyes fell to her left hand, leant up against the trunk of the tree, and the small silver band that sat around her ring finger. She sadly sighed as her eyes focused back on to Daryl who was picking up his stuff ready to move on, not before he gutted and ate the innards of the squirrel the huntress had been following earlier she now silently thanked her past self for not killing it earlier. She also witnessed him cut off the ears of the two rotters he took down and tie them round his neck with a shoe lace as she watched his face distort at the look of his new found necklace the brunette's own face distorted into a look of worry while she silently hoped that this was just to do with his deliriousness. The shoulder length haired huntress followed Daryl all the way back to his own camp she told herself it was just to keep an eye on him in his state -he'd had more visits from Merle while on his way back- but really she thought it was just because she was struggling to take her eyes off of him. Although even in his delirious, bleeding out and confused state Daryl Dixon was still a pain in the ass to follow, he was constantly looking around she was sure she wouldn't have managed to keep out of his sight if he had been in full shape. Once he stumbled out of the woods the woman was quick to rush straight to a tree that faced the open area he'd just walked into she moved so she was close to the edge but made sure she couldn't be seen, who knew whose eyes were looking at her through a gun scope right now? Finally her eyes landed on where Daryl called 'home' for the moment and she saw a beautiful farm house that looked untouched by rotters she smiled happy to know Daryl was in a good place. Her eyes moved down to his slow moving figure once more as four men approached him one looked to be limping but the thing that confused the woman most was the fact that they were all wielding weapons. As they got close enough one of the men even held his pistol up to Daryl's face, the woman's heart stopped she tore into her belt grabbing one of her knives though she wasn't sure she'd be able to make the shot from this far. Then she heard it;

"Is that Daryl?" One of them asked, her entire body went limp against the branch she was laying on she closed her eyes in relaxation as she breathed a sigh of relief they did know him he was okay.

"Third time you pointed tha' thing at ma' head.. You gonna pull the trigger or what?!" She heard his southern drawl that she so adored speak out to the men. She smiled he was back with his people she could happily leave now knowing he wasn't going to- BANG!

"NO!" She whispered the sound made her jump straight out of the tree and land on the ground with a pain to one of her feet, she was used to pain in her feet though so she soldiered through it. When her eyes landed on Daryl he was just falling to the floor.

"_NO!"_ She whispered again.

_'He pulled it!? He actually shot him!?'_ Was all that was running though the woman's head as she threw back her arm ready to plant a knife into the one with the pistols head only then he screamed no almost as whole-heartedly as she wanted to scream it and ran at Daryl the woman backed up slightly remaining hidden in the trees. The man then turned waving back to someone and shouting 'no!' once more he and another man in a baseball cap with 'POLICE' written across it then lifted Daryl to his feet.

"I was kiddin'!" She heard that southern growl and almost wept in joy she decided after all she'd seen today all that she had felt for Daryl, that she had to see him to speak to him. Besides he was in no fit state to explain himself to the rest of his group so maybe things would go smoother if she got to know them first. It was with that thought that she started moving towards the tree edge just as they started dragging him away. Those thoughts quickly recoiled and disappeared though when she saw a pretty blonde woman and older man running at the five men.

"Oh my god! Oh my god is he dead?!" The brunette could hear the utter fear in the woman's voice even from where she was stood suddenly the tears she'd felt come before in happiness were now back for sadness as she watched the blonde fuss over him from afar, she walked straight back into the woods without even a look back but not before one of the other men got a quick glance of her from the corner of his eye. The man in the police cap glared over Daryl's shoulder sure that he had seen the figure of a woman in the tree line moments ago he shook his head but made a mental note to ask Daryl about it later.

The huntress ran back into the woods about as far as her lungs would carry her before the air started to leave sharp pricks in her chest she allowed a strangled cough to leave her lips as she crouched to the floor leant against a tree. She struggled to catch her breath, her heart felt like it was trying to tear right out of her chest as she forced herself to hold back any tears she was even thinking of shedding. She fell to the ground her behind resting at the bottom of the tree she was leaning on for support as she let out a berated breath rubbing her face with her hands.

"This is silly!" She hissed to herself behind her hands before she moved them away from her face and shook them out in front of her. Her body shook in response as though she was trying to shake out all the sad thoughts she was thinking, all the ridiculous jealous feelings she was feeling. She took a deep breath and forced herself to laugh as she pulled herself up off the floor.

"This is ridiculous, I have Matt, there's nothing I should be jealous of..." She whispered to herself pulling out a knife from her belt, she needed to catch at least one squirrel before she went back to Matt.

"Besides I don't know that woman even had anything to do with Daryl..." She hissed to try and soothe herself but after a few moments of silent thinking her face pulled into a sneer.

"Who am I kidding? Daryl is fuckin' gorgeous o'course she's sleepin' with him..." She growled stabbing her knife into a nearby tree. "Fuckin' blondes..." She hissed.

When she'd thought she needed to catch 'at least one squirrel' that is literally what she meant, she managed to find a single squirrel while heading back to her own camp. Her catch now hung from the back of her belt covering the behind of her trashy already muck stained denim shorts in blood. She hated wearing clothes like that, she had always had lovely long tanned legs, being a girl from down south she had no difficulty getting a tan. However her legs always gained her unwanted attention from males, she didn't used to mind it so much, when she travelled and was living in hostels her legs got her many a free night. When she got engaged to Matt however she didn't like it so much, it became a hassle when other men looked at her. Matt would always end up kicking the shit out of them but he said he likes her in her short shorts and mini skirts, really she just thought he liked it to use as an excuse to beat the crap out of people. It was night by the time the long legged brunette stepped back into her own camp, which she was pleased to see was just as she left it, two cars and a large two tonne truck all surrounding a small camp fire. As she approached she smiled at the couple from the red car, Frank and Abbey however when she got closer she saw the sad look Abbey was sending her and quickly realised what it meant.

"Hey guys..." She said slowly to the pair.

"Even'n." Frank said back, clearly unaware of the discussion the two women had just had via facial expressions.

"He's in your truck..." Abbey said pointing over to the truck that had been backed into the gathering so that when the shutter was open the pair could sit on the end of the carriage and take part in the conversations. Tonight however the shutter was not open and the brunette huntress knew exactly what that meant. She walked up to the truck as quietly as she could Abbey sent her a sad smile as she approached it, the blonde knew what was in stake for the young girl that she had come to call a friend. The brunette lightly tapped her knuckle against the shutter.

"Sweetie? Are you awake? I'm back..." She said as sweetly and softly as she could muster she'd hoped there'd be no answer, that there wouldn't have to be a fight, not tonight. Her hopes went unanswered when the shutter door came sharply rattling upwards, they normally had a rule that after a certain time of night they weren't allowed to use the shutter and had to enter the box by the front of the truck. The little huntress highly doubted anyone was going to mention this rule to Matt right now though. As the door fully opened Matt stood there in his filthy wife beater and torn denim jeans she couldn't help but make a comparison in her head thinking how her fiancée couldn't pull off dirty wife beaters quite as well as Daryl, she silently scorned herself for her thoughts after.

"Get in." Matt growled at her she did as demanded of her and lifted herself into the cab, within seconds of her being stood beside Matt he had already pulled the shutter back down and viciously pushed her up against the side of the cab knocking some stocked shelves out of place.

"Where the fuck have you been!?" He growled in her face she glared at him, it was like he already knew, like he had been spying on her today and watched her as she watched Daryl Dixon in lustful admiration.

"I-I was hunting Matt-" She stammered out. "Lemme go you're hurting me!" She hissed struggling to lift her arms to his, he'd pinned her to the cold metal side by holding his arms around her biceps. A move he liked to pull 'cause he could just make her wear a long sleeved shirt for a few days and there'd be no signs she was hurt, plus it kept her hands away from him. He pushed off of her now letting out a growl as he did she glared down to the already pinking marks he'd left on her arms, they were definitely going to bruise. She glared back over to him before kneeling down and picking up the supplies that had been knocked to the floor.

"Damn Matty, what the hell's your problem? You act like I ain't never been huntin' before!" She hissed back at him, if he'd seen her with Daryl she'd find out now, there was no way he wouldn't respond to that remark, although if he'd seen her with Daryl she was sure she'd be in a much worse state then she is now.

"What that hell's my problem!?" He hissed back she tentatively listened without trying to make it too obvious how worried she was for his next words. "My problem _Nancy_ is that you have been gone for hours! I mean god damn you broke curfew!" He hissed and she almost fell backwards in realisation, Matt had set a curfew of 7 o'clock, just before it starts getting dark, that everyone had to abide by Nancy now realised she'd missed that curfew by a fair few hours.

"Shit Matty, I'm sorry..." She whispered standing up and placing the last of the dropped supplies back on the shelf. "I completely forgot while I was out there, you know how I get sometimes..."

"It's alright..." He spoke softly now moving towards her she turned to face him to find him smiling. "At least you got us plenty to eat right?" He smiled speaking in that accent she hated, Matty was from higher North than Nancy but moved down to her town when he was still pretty young so his accent was some weird mix. His words made Nancy's stomach drop

"Er, yeah, about that..." She mumbled.

"What about _that_?!" He hissed back to his nasty tone. "Show me what you caught!" He growled, Nancy pulled out the single dead squirrel and held it up to him he snatched it out of her hand.

"This?! _This is it?!_" He growled at her shaking the dead squirrel in her face.

"Matty lemme explain-" But before she could even get another word out a hard balled fist collided with her cheek sending her flying to the floor of the cab a scream escaped her lips and she hated it, she never wanted him to know when he'd really hurt her.

"Explain this bitch!" Matt growled pulling back his foot and bringing it in on her stomach the pain was unbearable but she held in the scream she wanted to let out.

"THERE WERE ROTTERS MATT!" She shouted at him, that stopped him he paused staring at her as she lay there in the foetal position.

"Rotters?! How many?! Were you bit!?" He hissed at her she glared up at him, her pride taking over she attempted to stand, almost crying out as she did so and having to hold on to one of the shelves for stability but she managed to stand and face him.

"There were five or six..." Nancy breathed out.

"I said _were you bit_!?" He hissed out she glared at him again although from the throbbing pain she was feeling in her cheek and the fact that vision through her left eye was half concealed in pink she doubted it looked much like a glare.

"No!" She growled at him a sneer set on her face as he continued to eye her up and down she pulled up her tight fitted plain red t-shirt and showed Matt her side so he could fully see her body.

"I said no! The only marks on my body are from you!" She hissed this brought his brown eyes back to her own.

"Don't get cocky now, Hicks!" He hissed out her last name like it was venom she just sneered at him and dropped her shirt back down.

"Five or six you reckon?" He asked she just nodded now, the pain in the cheek and side suddenly becoming pretty overwhelming, she allowed herself to drop back and lean against the cool wall of the cab.

"Damn, maybe we should move on, that many rotters-"

"No!" Nancy cut him short which only made him glare more. "I-I mean, I don't think that's a good idea, we've only just got here, let us have a few days, maybe even'a week? The only reason I saw them rotters is 'cause I went too far er..." She thought for a moment thinking of the direction Daryl's camp was in. "East.. Ya don't send anyone else East, it's rotter fest over there..." She explained Matt glared at her for a few moments before nodding.

"Alright, I wont..." He said she smiled nodding. "But it's only a matter'o time 'til we gotta move on from this place Nancy.. Don't get too comfortable." He growled she just nodded and just as she turned to leave something on her hip caught the eye of Matt he grabbed hold of her hip pulling it into his view he sneered at her.

"You lost'a knife?!" He hissed her stomach dropped, they hadn't had many knifes when they'd started out and she'd already lost two.

"Yeah... Sorry they overwhelmed me I couldn't-" She tried to explain but he just growled raising his arm once more, though Nancy wasn't sure her cheek could take another punch and she wondered if Matt had thought the same thing as his fist smashed into the metal beside her head. Nancy stared at him scared out of her wits he just stared at the spot on the cab that he'd hit, without saying a word he moved away from her and into the front of the truck as she went to follow him he sharply turned on her.

"I think it's time you went to bed, Nancy." He hissed her eyes pulled into a glare again but as she went to say something the look on Matt's face told her not to.

"Good night, Nancy." He growled before climbing out of the truck. Nancy growled but as her eyes landed on the fold up bed she'd been using her lids started to feel mighty heavy.


	2. Givin' Up On You

Hello again my Walker lovers.. Okay that just sounds a bit disgusting.. How are you? Last chapter was pretty long huh? Sorry about that, I'm also sorry to tell you that this one's even longer! So have fun with that! I do not own the Walking Dead or any character's involved in the franchise, breaking into their offices at night _really _didn't win me any brownie points with Robert Kirkman... Oops.

_Chapter Two: Givin' Up On You._

Daryl woke up the next day with his head still throbbing and found Shane was stood in his room looking out the window. Daryl sneered slightly, he had no problem with Shane he just didn't like people being around him when he's sleeping. He sat up slightly pulling at his sheets so they covered his chest.

"Summin' I can do for ya?" Daryl grumbled out to the Deputy as he turned to look at him after he spoke. Shane obviously hadn't realised Daryl had woken up as he looked slightly jolted.

"Er, yeah just bringin' you your clothes in case you feel up to gettin' dressed..." Shane explained eyeing the wounded man as he pointed to his folded up and washed clothes on a chair.

"You kiddin'? I'm dyin' t' get outta this place, I ain't enjoyin' bein' waited on." Daryl said eagerly eyeing his clothes Shane laughed at his words.

"Probably the first man in history to say that.." The freshly shaved man said with a smirk Daryl just nodded before his face pulled into a confused frown.

"There sommin' else? Or you jus' gonna stand there while I dress?" Daryl said with slightly more aggressiveness then he meant to.

"Yeah, er..." Shane moved when he spoke coming to sit on the end of the bed gaining him another confused frown from Daryl as the bandaged man moved over slightly.

"This might sound a little weird, but you didn't see anyone else when you were out there in those woods did ya?" Daryl's eyes moved up to Shane's now, did he mean Merle? Did he know about Daryl's delirious visions? Daryl frowned looking away as he pushed those thoughts out of his mind there was no way Shane could know anything about that.

"Nah, I didn't. Why?" Daryl asked his eyes pulled into a curious squint as he looked back at Shane who ran his hand across his newly shaved head.

"I just... I could'a sworn I saw a woman come outta them woods when you went down, brunette I think..." Shane explained with a laugh shaking his head but Daryl did no such thing as he thought back to the moment he fell off the horse just before everything went to shit. He remembered now, he was sure he saw someone, a brunette he recognised he squinted as he looked back at Shane who shook his head.

"But hey, clearly this world is just playin' tricks on me, after all there ain't no-one who could sneak up on Daryl Dixon unnoticed huh?" Shane said with a laugh standing up he said his goodbyes and left the room quickly after but Daryl barely heard him through his own distracting thoughts. It couldn't have been her, he's miles away from where she is there's no way... Daryl couldn't stop thinking about that moment he fell off the horse then he realised something. His eyes looked over to his pile of clothes, on the same chair that his clothes were on was his crossbow, slung over the back of it which could only mean... He sat up, with a bit of a struggle, and looked through his clothes and sure enough under his shirt and on top of his pants sat two knifes, his and a smaller one with a colourful fabric tied to the end of it. Daryl picked up the little knife holding it in his hand as he examined it, it was smaller than an average hunting knife but bigger than a pen knife or kitchen knife he'd not seen a knife like it before... Or had he? Daryl opened his palm up and his eyes landed on the fabric, why did he feel like he recognised this so badly? He stopped looking at the knife and looked to the door that Shane had just left out of, he thought back to his words _'there ain't no-one who could sneak up on Daryl Dixon unnoticed huh?'_

"There's one person..." He spoke to himself as his eyes moved back to the knife in his hand.

Nancy woke up the next morning to find that Matt had managed to sneak into their truck last night sleep and sneak back out again all without waking her. She put it down to the fact that she was so overwhelmed after all that happened yesterday. She sighed as she pulled herself out of bed a dull pain throbbed through her side and arms she looked down to find two blue bruises on either arm she growled but didn't bother checking her stomach or face before she rooted around the bag of clothes that she'd managed to take before leaving home. She found the only long sleeved shirt she'd brought with her a plain white t-shirt that had now got the stains of blood and dirt splattered all over it. She hissed as she painfully pulled it over her body then slipped into a filthy pair of denim jeans making sure not to wear anything Matt would be happy with. Just as she was pulling her hair into a messy high pony she heard one of the doors in the front of the cab open and then close, within seconds Matt was stood in the box with her. She stayed silent for a moment staring at a spot on the floor as she continued to play with her hair just to look busy slowly she allowed her eyes to move up to his own.

"Nay..." He smiled calling her his pet name for her, she said nothing just stood off of her bed, struggling to hide the pain it caused, and moved over to the shutter. Matt walked up behind her placing his hand on her shoulder to stop her from opening it just yet.

"Nay, please talk to me." He said as his other hand slipped on to her waist and with that he pulled her into his body. "You know I didn't mean it last night, it was just well, you know how mad it gets me when you make me worry 'bout you." Nancy rolled her eyes as his lips found the back of her neck. "Maybe if you stopped running off all the time I wouldn't worry so much..." He said as he kissed her neck gently. "You know the amount of times you leave me it almost makes me feel like you don't even want to be here, with me." Nancy still didn't speak and her lack of words to his last ones made him stop kissing her. There was a moment of silence as though he was waiting for her to correct her mistake before he viciously span her around to look at him.

"You _do_ want to be here don't you, Nancy?!" He growled at her, she moved her eyes to look directly at his as she nodded.

"Y-yah, o'course." She whispered, he smirked to her response before pushing her up against the shutter of the van.

"Good." He said with a smile and moved his lips to hers kissing her, she didn't kiss back but didn't stop him either. "You know we haven't fooled around in a while, since before any of this rotter shit even... What you reckon?" He said with a smirk, Nancy suppressed a shudder at the thought before searching the cab for any excuse to leave her eyes landed on her belt.

"Er, actually sweetie, after I fucked up so bad yesterday I was thinkin'a goin' an' doin' some more huntin'... Ya know get some real grub for our group." She said smiling as she slipped out of his grasp and moved over to her belt pulling it around herself.

"Ha, I think me an' Bill have the huntin' covered for today, why don't you go 'n' help the other women wit' the laundry?" Matt said Nancy glared at the wall in front of her, she had her back to Matt and wanted to make sure he didn't see her anger. She knew this was punishment for breaking curfew last night and for rejecting him now, she just took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sure al'ight." She said collecting together some of their dirty clothes and leaving out the front of the truck. As she stepped into the sun the light blinded her slightly, she held up her arm to block the sun as she looked over to the others. Bill stood from the log he was sat on as Nancy left the truck.

"Mornin' Nancy." He grumbled to her, he was Matt's best friend from their childhood, he'd not seen Matt in over ten years before a few weeks ago when Nancy and Matt pulled up into their old neighbourhood and found Bill and his wife Jill bunkered down in Bill's parents old house. Matt and Bill rekindled their old friendship pretty quickly, probably because Bill was as much of an asshole as Matt, Nancy was sure he beat Jill too but Bill never let Jill speak so she didn't know for sure.

"Mornin'." Nancy responded walking past him as he took himself and his shotgun into the truck. Her eyes fell on to the camp now, Frank was still sat on the log that he was on the night before he was cleaning weapons. He and his wife Abbey were a bit older than the other two couples, only by about ten years but that meant Bill and Matt often let Frank get away with not hunting, it was probably for the best, from what Abbey told Nancy he has a heart problem.

"Mornin' Frank!" Nancy called over to him he looked up from the pistol he was working on and smiled at her. Nancy knew that nobody was going to mention the large busted cheek she had because it had become a regular occurrence, besides nobody here had the nerve to stand up to Matt about it.

"Mornin' Nancy, I got some clean knifes for ya over here if ya wan' 'em?" He asked Nancy smiled at him walking over.

"Actually I'll take one of 'em, I lost one to a rotter last nigh'." Nancy explained picking up one of the shining knifes by the string hung off the end of it and placing it in her 'go-to' spot.

"Yeah Matt mentioned this morn', lucky ya such a tough lil' biscuit, not many people can survive confrontin' six rotters." He explained Nancy just smiled at his words giving him a brief nod she refrained from mentioning that she wasn't alone in the fight. She left the camp and walked South for a while before she came across the stream that they used for water. She could already see Abbey's blonde hair knelt beside it.

"Mornin' Abbey." Nancy said once she got close enough.

"Nancy!" Her blonde friend said happily once her eyes met the brunettes only for her smile to drop one she saw Nancy's face, she eyed the large bruise for a moment before looking sadly back into Nancy's eyes. She didn't say anything though, she knew better than that with Matt's prying ears still nearby, her sorrowful looks were enough for Nancy to understand how she felt and give the blonde a slow nod in appreciation for her worry.

"I-I'm glad you're here... I gotta say I feel a hell of a lot safer with you around." She spoke now dismissing the sad looks for a slightly forced smile. Abbey wasn't from the South, she had a very clear accent, nothing like Nancy's Southern drawl. Nancy laughed to her friends words shaking her head as she placed hers and Matt's clothes down and knelt beside Abbey.

"Matt tell everyone about those rotters yesterday?" She said with a laugh, Abbey nodded.

"Well it is pretty impressive, though I think I might only feel safer 'cause of you _and_ that pretty belt you got." Abbey said with a wink Nancy laughed at her again nodding just as Jill came walking back from the road side. The three couples had set up their camp beside the road so that they could hear any cars coming by, so far they hadn't seen a single one, so for the moment they used the hot Atlanta tarmac as somewhere to dry out their clothes.

"Mornin' Jill." Nancy said to the closing in petite woman, she got only a nod in response before Jill moved to the other side of the stream and started cleaning her clothes further down from Abbey and Nancy. Nancy watched her in shock before looking back over to Abbey with wide eyes Abbey just shook her head with a disapproving look on her face, Nancy sniffed her arm pit.

"I smell or summin'?" She asked Abbey let out a snort of a laugh.

"Well actually a little yeah..." She laughed out, Nancy pretended to look shocked nudging her friend with her elbow. "But I don't think that's got anything to do with why she won't speak to us." Abbey said as both women stopped laughing and looked over to the sad looking woman.

After an hour or so of cleaning Nancy was already bored it turned out her and Matt hadn't had much to clean after all and after offering to help Abbey twenty times and getting a 'No I'm fine' in response every time she'd resigned herself to throwing one of her knifes into a nearby tree over and over again. That was until Matt and Bill came down to the stream then she grabbed one of Abbey's tops and started scrubbing, Abbey threw her a look but quickly understood.

"Just came over to say goodbye..." Matt said as they approached Nancy looked up and smiled at him pretending like she hadn't noticed him.

"Oh, okay, goodbye." She said before moving back to Abbey's top. Jill moved now from her spot down stream she ran over to Bill with her pile of clean clothes.

"I've finished now." She said in barely a whisper.

"Alrigh' go hang up the clothes, then arrange our supplies, I 'xpect a list o' what we got when I get back.." Bill growled orders out to her and Jill just nodded before leaning in to kiss him, on seeing this Matt walked over to Nancy and knelt down behind her leaning so that his head was by her ear.

"No kiss goodbye for your fiancée Nay?" He hissed into her ear, Nancy took a quick side glance at Abbey who continued her washing.

"O'course." She smiled moving her head round and giving him a swift kiss on the cheek before going back to washing Matt didn't want that though. He moved his hand up so it was holding her around the chin and forced her face to look at his then forced his lips on to her own kissing her passionately.

_'Damn you Jill!'_ Is all Nancy could think as her husband-to-be forced a kiss out of her, he pulled away after with a slimy grin on his face.

"That's better." He hissed to her before viciously throwing her face away from his and walking away with Bill. Leaving Nancy embarrassed in front of Abbey, she glanced to her blonde friend.

"I'm sorry Abbey..." She whispered handing back her top.

"No, no it's okay, I'm sorry... Here, help me with these." She said passing half her pile to Nancy who smiled to her.

"Thank you..." She whispered.

It wasn't long before the two women managed to finish up their cleaning together and soon enough Abbey was talking about heading back to camp. As Nancy stood up and looked into the woods though all she could think about, all she wanted to do, was run off, go to Daryl's camp and see if he was okay. She glanced at her good friend Abbey, in the few weeks they'd known each other Nancy had truly come to trust Abbey which is why it was her and only her she could ask.

"Abbey... Will ya do me a favour?" Nancy asked Abbey frowned at her.

"Sure, what is it?" She asked.

"Would you... lie for me?" She asked Abbey glared at her before glancing into the woods where Nancy was looking.

"Oh no, I'm not going to lie to Matt for you while you run off to do some hunting!" She hissed shaking her head.

"No! Not huntin', I jus' I got summin' I gotta do, an' I promise I'll be back 'fore Matt is! Jus' lie if he mentions it later, I don' want'im worryin' is all." Nancy explained Abbey squinted at her for a few moments.

"What if you don't come back?" She asked Nancy looked to the floor for a moment then back up at her.

"Jus' tell 'im ya didn't see me leave, I was jus' gone." She said, Abbey sighed but nodded.

"Fine! But if he finds out I'm going to pretend like I got no idea about it." She growled unhappy about having to lie.

"Good! Yes, thank you! Thank you so much Abbey!" And with that Nancy went running off, she quickly snuck into camp and grabbed a pair of binoculars out of the truck then ran back off into the woods.

It didn't take Nancy long to find Daryl's camp once more, this time she tried to find some woods that were a bit closer to it and after walking almost the entire circle around the area she found a spot that was so close to one of the tents she was sure if anyone was in there they'd be able to hear her footsteps. She watched the group moving around living their lives but she didn't see Daryl she figured the one thing she'd hoped hadn't happened had, that he was in the house resting or the barn. As she continued to watch the group she noticed the blonde woman from before walking towards her and the tent that was close to her Nancy ducked behind the tree she had climbed into to scout from holding her breath. She peeked back around after a few seconds to see that the blonde had gone into the tent, she thought nothing of it raising her binoculars back to her face that was until she thought she heard a familiar voice come out of that tent. Nancy's eyes shot down to the tent as she strained her ears to try and hear what was being said she couldn't catch it but she could see through the netting on the side of the tent. She could only see the bottom half of his body but she was sure it was him, she eyed up a good spot on the tree beside her and, after standing and balancing herself on the branch she was already on, she made a leap for it her hand gripped hold and with that she pulled herself up. Only then she had her sore biceps leant against the hard tree, after much swearing she managed to pull herself up and on to the branch just as she managed to get settled she looked back over to see the blonde leaving the tent. Nancy got herself comfortable as she sat and watched Daryl for a few hours before reluctantly heading back to her own camp without Matt knowing a thing about it.

A week passed by and Matt was itching to move on though Nancy wasn't so eager, she'd managed to talk him down from leaving at least three times the last time was last night, it got pretty heated and he'd given her some fresh bruises over the newly healed ones on her arms, luckily he hadn't done any damage to anywhere else on her body. The only thing that had managed to keep her going through the arguments was the same thing that was causing them, the reason she was so head-strong about staying; Daryl. She'd started making a habit of disappearing whenever Matt went out hunting, sometimes asking Abbey to lie for her sometimes just not even telling her, and just watching Daryl's camp, she'd not managed to get there everyday but it was damn close to that. She saw his group go through a lot of tough stuff, the old man she'd seen before even disappeared over night, she assumed he'd been killed 'cause they had a funeral one morning. After that it got a bit harder to watch them though, they all moved into the farm house and they all seemed to be on much higher alert making it difficult for Nancy. She was pretty sure that the guy she'd seen before, in the Police cap, had seen, and followed, her for a straight mile one day. Though that wasn't the hardest part for Nancy, the hardest part was constantly seeing Daryl with a woman, not the blonde one now but a short haired older looking woman. Nancy had seen the pair together on so many occasions now that just the sight of them next to each other drove her insane, which was the reason she was scowling into her binoculars this morning she could see the pair of them talking outside the farm house. The woman was smiling at Daryl and just as Nancy thought she was at breaking point she leant in to him Nancy threw her binoculars to the floor growling as she did so, she tore one of her knifes out of her belt and stabbed it into the tree she was on just to get some anger out. After a few moments of glaring at her own knife her eyes fell to the very far away floor that she'd dropped, and probably broken, the binoculars on to. She growled again as she pulled out her knife and started climbing down the tree she got to the bottom with ease and picked up the binoculars.

_'He's happy, in love, so am I right? So there shouldn't be anything to be upset over!'_

_'Urgh, what if he __**is**__ in love, he's in love with someone and it isn't me why does that annoy me so much!?'_

_'Because you are insane.' _Nancy sighed at her unhelpful thoughts as she moved away from the tree she was on taking a quick peek through the binoculars to make sure there weren't broken, they were. She sighed again running her hand through her curly locks.

_'Maybe it's time to give up, look at him...'_ She thought as she looked through the broken binoculars over to Daryl who was now sat alone. _'He still has my knife clearly without realising it's mine, he's happy, happy with someone else, but still he's happy and alive that should make me happy right?'_

_'Ugh, fine, we'll leave with Matt. No point in staying if he's happy with someone else...' _Nancy growled in her head keeping her eyes on Daryl as he sharpened a stick with a knife.

"Goodbye Ears..." She whispered smirking at the reference to their childhood before slinging the binoculars around her neck and walking back to her camp. She arrived to find a pacing and angry looking Abbey at the entrance to the camp.

"Where have you been!?" She hissed at Nancy as soon as she walked up to her.

"Jus' checkin' out the perimeter... Thought I 'eard a rotter.." Nancy explained with a wink before walking into the camp the truck's shutter was closed so she climbed in through the door and into the cab only to find Abbey was still following her.

"Don't give me that bull Nancy, you need to stop going out there for whatever it is that you're doing!" She hissed at her Nancy sighed nodding her head.

"Ya, I know-"

"But do you know Nancy!? Do you realise what Matt would do to the lot of us if you didn't come back one day? He'd kill us! Not only are you putting yourself in unneeded danger but you're putting all of us in it too!" Abbey cut Nancy off with her words Nancy just smiled at her and nodded.

"I agree wit' ya Abbey... Which is why I'm gonna tell Matt tonigh' that we need t' move on go else where." Nancy couldn't help but laugh at Abbey's speechlessness. "Is that alrigh' with Mother Abbey?" She joked Abbey just glared at her.

"Yes... I just- I thought I'd have a lot more of a fight on my hands from you that's all." She explained Nancy nodded.

"Ya, well my reason for waitin', ain't waitin' for me." Nancy whispered Abbey didn't ask though and Nancy was thankful for that. "Well, shall we get ta cookin' dinner then?" Nancy smiled as she pulled open the shutter

A few hours later, just before it started to turn dark Matt and Bill came back home from hunting with a dozen squirrel's and even a rabbit. Nancy smiled when she saw them coming in and before long the six of them were all sat around the camp fire after finishing dinner chatting away to each other about the things they missed most from normal life.

"A damn washing machine would be nice..." Abbey joked she was always stuck with laundry duty, Nancy laughed at her friend.

"I miss the t.v. Used to be able to get away without listenin' to her whinin' then.." Frank said as he picked his teeth and pointedly glanced at Abbey who just laughed giving him a light elbow to the ribs.

"I miss smokes, ain't found a shop tha' had any in 'em in days!" Bill spoke now Frank nodded in agreement to his words.

"I don't miss anythin', 'cause I got all I need... Righ' here..." Matt spoke now slipping his arm round Nancy as he spoke she smiled at him while everyone else booed.

"Oh screw that, now ya made tha' rest'a us look bad!" Bill complained Matt and Nancy just laughed at him and the others she looked back across to Matt as everyone else started their own conversation. Her eyes watched his face as he looked at the rest of the group laughing at their jokes with his broken tooth smile, his stubbled face was strong with a few two many scars and a busted up nose from all the times he'd broken it. He wasn't exactly winning any beauty contests but sometimes he could be really sweet to her.

"I think we should go." She said with a nod as though making the decision there and then.

"Hm? Go where? Bed?" Matt questioned Nancy just let out a little laugh and shook her head.

"No, leave, all o'us we should move on, there ain't nothin' for us here..." She looked away as she spoke now her eyes falling to her knees as they hung over the back of the truck.

"Aw baby, you just made my night!" Matt said happily kissing the side of Nancy's head she just smiled up at him before he pushed himself off the back of the truck.

"Y'all, pack up your shit tonight, we're leavin' as soon as we wake up in the morn'." He spoke to the group before climbing back into the truck.

Nancy tied her hair into pigtails like she did every night it helped her sleep when her hair wasn't in her way she climbed into her little fold out bed as Matt did the last bits of the night. She was still wearing her denim cut off daisy dukes and a black wife beater shirt that was much too big for her because, although she'd never revealed this to Matt, it was once Daryl Dixon's. She knew she should have thrown it out but it was one of the best things she had to sleep in and now it was the only thing she had. Besides wearing denim in bed was uncomfortable enough the only reason they did it is because early on in their travels they found out the danger of having to dress when attacked by rotters at night when Matt was nearly bit. It was only because Nancy threw a knife at the bastard when she was in nothing but her underwear that saved him. Although wearing Daryl's shirt every night didn't help her in her plea to stop thinking about him and she fell asleep, once again, with nothing but him on her mind. Barely a couple of hours passed before Nancy and the rest of the camp were woken up by a horrific scream Nancy jumped straight out of bed grabbing her knives and clipping them around herself as Matt tore open the shutter only to find a rotter inches from the back of the truck before he could react Nancy had thrown a knife into his skull. Matt jumped straight out of the back of the truck and over to Bill and Jill's car where the majority of the rotter's were.

"Stay in the truck!" He yelled back to Nancy as he took down a rotter with a knife to it's head, Nancy just glared at him in response as she started hearing gun shots, Bill she expected.

"Abbey!?" Nancy called reminding herself that it was a woman's scream she'd heard.

"Nancy! What's happening?!" Abbey and Frank had appeared from their own car Abbey was holding a pistol in her hands and Frank had a bat. Just as Nancy turned to explain she saw a rotter just feet from her and Frank.

"Abbey! Watch out!" Nancy screamed throwing a knife into the rotter's head as she jumped off the truck and over to Abbey grabbing both the knives she'd thrown as she did.

"Jesus..." Nancy whispered as she now got a sense of what was happening there were rotters everywhere and more were coming now that there had been, and still were, gun shots. Finally Matt and Bill cleared the rotters from Bill's car and everyone finally saw who had screamed, Jill lay across the passenger seat torn to bits Bill screamed out tears falling down his face while Matt just lifted his pistol and shot her in the head before taking out some more approaching rotters.

"Shit..." Nancy whispered as she took down another two rotters. "Quick Abbey, Frank get t' the truck! We'll sort- SHIT FRANK WATCH OUT!" But it was too late by the time Nancy finished warning him the rotter had already bitten into his arm.

"FRANK! NO!" Abbey screamed shooting the rotter in the head but Frank's arm was bleeding out all over the car. Frank's eyes shot up to look at Matt who, as soon as he looked over, lifted his gun towards Frank.

"I'm sorry, friend." He spoke as he walked toward the three of them.

"What?! NO!" Abbey said throwing herself between Frank and Matt.

"He's already dead Abbey..." Matt growled after hearing his words however Frank set off running.

"No. He's. Not!" She hissed back at him moving so that she was still blocking Frank as he moved Nancy took out a couple of rotters who were nearing on the still grieving Bill just as Matt growled in frustration at Abbey.

"MOVE! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Matt yelled as he shoved Abbey off to the side she fell her side landed on some glass from a window that Bill had shot out in a vain attempt to save Jill and before Nancy knew it Abbey was bleeding too.

"Matt!" Nancy scorned as she moved to Abbey's side.

"God dammit I can't see him now!" He growled before shooting a rotter down then turning on the two women.

"No! Did he get him? Did he get Frank?" Abbey whispered wincing as she held her side.

"No, he didn' get Frank Abbey, jus' stay still." Nancy whispered back leant over her.

"Move aside Nancy..." She heard the cold voice of Matt speak, she looked up at him to find his gun pointed at her and Abbey.

"Matt! NO!" She yelled standing between him and Abbey now. "She's fine Matt, she was cut not bit!" Nancy growled at him.

"She might bleed out, she'll only slow us down wit' a wound like tha'."

"Look around Matt! We're surrounded by rotters an' we're down two people, you really wanna throw away help like tha'?" Nancy hissed but he still didn't lower his gun she glared at him. "Fine, if ya wanna shoot Abbey ya gonna have to shoot me too..." She said to him and the fact that he took a few seconds to think scared the crap out of her.

"Fine!" He growled dropping his arm. "But she's on you, she drags us down you're dealin' wit' it!" He hissed at Nancy before shooting two more rotters near Bill. "Now do what I say an' _get in the truck!_" He growled taking out a few rotters between them and the truck as Nancy lifted Abbey's weight on to her shoulder and dragged her over to the truck dropping her in and pushing her back into it before running around and grabbing the knives she'd used taking down a couple more rotters as she did. Matt ran to Bill and, with much arguing, managed to get him into the truck too. Both Matt and Nancy took down a few more rotters before jumping into the back of the truck themselves slamming the shutter closed just as four rotters crossed the camp towards them. Without a word Matt ran to the drivers seat jumping into it and starting the engine, he took off managing to take out a few more rotters as he got on to the road.

"Oh.. Frank..." Abbey whispered tears fell down her face, Nancy fell to her side grabbing some bandages from the shelf and wrapping them around her.

"I know Abbey I know..." Nancy said stroking her hair with her bloody hands leaving trails of blood on her blonde strands.

"We gotta go back for him..." Abbey whispered to Nancy, Nancy just sadly shook her head.

"Abbey... Abbey listen t' me.. Frank got bit, the camp's overrun, we can't go back, I'm sorry sweetie, Frank's gone..." She said staring into Abbey large sad green eyes.

"Noo..." She whispered before falling into Nancy's chest and crying more. Nancy's eyes moved up to look at Matt, he glanced back at her shook his head and turned back around. Nancy just glared at him, he was ruthless out there, shooting Jill before she was even cold, nearly killing Frank before he even had the chance to work out what had happened and then going for Abbey, who was this man?

After only ten or so miles the truck came to a shuddering halt, it was this noise that woke Nancy up, she looked down to find Abbey still asleep on her chest. She moved the sleeping blonde so that she was resting on a make shift pillow, made out of one of Nancy's jumpers, then she moved into the front of the truck.

"We're out?" She whispered to Matt, Bill was also asleep in the back and she didn't want to wake either of them.

"The light was on before we made camp up there, our plan there was t' find fuel remember?" Matt growled back to her Nancy sighed.

"Damn..." She whispered. "Well we'll stay here for the night, rest in the truck 'til morn'n, ya need sleep." She said looking at Matt's tired face. "Then in the morn'n one o'us'll go find some gas al'ight?" Matt nodded as she spoke before the pair of them climbed into the back of the truck and into their separate fold out beds. As Nancy glanced down to her baggy wife beater shirt her mind went to Daryl and she hoped that the rotter's that had hit their camp hadn't hit his too.

The next day seemed to fly past, both Nancy and Matt went out on separate scouts for cars and couldn't find a single one, no fuel anywhere. Before she knew it the four of them were all sat round eating cold beans straight out of the can, they didn't want to run the risk of starting a fire the rotters seemed to be out in full force today. Matt figured they'd finally left the city and that there was only going to be more of them.

"So what should we do?" Nancy asked the thing she knew everyone was thinking.

"Look for more fuel t'morrow?" Bill asked Nancy shook her head.

"We can't stay here, we'll be overrun by morn'n... Matt?!" She questioned her fiancée in hopes he'd agree with her he just glanced at her.

"What else can we do Nancy?" He asked she shook her head.

"Walk! Get as many miles between here an' us as possible!" Matt just laughed at her words shaking his head.

"What and leave all our supplies? We'd die'a starvation 'fore we got even twenty miles from here!" He growled back to her.

"We take what we can carry an' hope for some place to loot or people we can trade off'a." Nancy exclaimed back to him.

"That's a damn slim chance!" Matt retorted, Nancy sneered at him, starting to think he was only arguing with her now because he was mad at her.

"It's a damn better chance than just hopin' the rotters'll just pass us by if we stay here!" She growled back Matt glared at her for a moment.

"I think I'm startin' t' agree wit' Nancy now bro, there is a whole lotta rotters 'round here..." Bill took Nancy's side, not something she was able to brag about that often. Matt's glare turned on to Bill now but as he looked that way his eyes landed on the sleeping Abbey who's bloody bandage needed changing.

"What 'bout Abbey? She can barely walk twenty feet let alone twenty miles! You suggestin' we leave 'er?" Matt sneered Nancy glared at him.

_'Oh you'd love that wouldn't you, to have been right about not bringing her!' _Was what Nancy wanted to say but she held her tongue.

"I'll carry her if I have to." Her words came out vicious and bitter and Matt sensed that but after the defeat of having Bill agree with Nancy there wasn't much else he could do.

"Fine! We'll go in the morn'n!" He spat out before climbing into the back of the truck, after a small smile of victory Nancy did the same.

The morning came by without any more incidents and Nancy managed to sleep pretty easily, she blamed that on all the walking and fighting she'd done the day before. She woke up to find Matt and Bill already up and packing things away she was quick to get up and do the same and within the hour the four of them were on the road. Nancy walked with her arm linked into Abbey's just in case she needed the support and Matt and Bill walked behind them with one of them always walking backwards. If a rotter approached from the front it'd be pretty easy to see early on what with the roads being so long and empty, the men's main concern were the sides and back which is why they agreed to always stay at least ten feet behind the women.

"Nancy...?" Abbey whispered to the brunette woman beside her.

"Ya?" Nancy replied keeping her eyes on the road.

"Thank you, I didn't get a chance to say it without _him_ around but... You stood up to him to save me, I know that must have been hard for you, and for a minute I thought he was gonna shoot you too..." She took a breath and Nancy looked happily over to her. "But I'm glad he didn't... Thank you for saving my life." Nancy smiled at her friends words.

"No need for thanks Abs, it's jus' what friends do righ'?" Nancy smiled Abbey laughed.

"Well I'm not sure how many friends would have their friends fiancées pointing a gun at them... But sure, that's what friends do." Nancy smiled sadly at Abbey's response.

"I'm sorry Abbey, 'bout everything, 'bout _him_ 'bout Frank..." Nancy's voice caught. "Jus', everything..." She whispered.

"Nancy, you have nothing... Not. ... To be sorry for, you are one of the best women I've ever met and you deserve a lot better than _him_. And Frank... Well that's not your fault at all, he has always been a bit deaf... Always _was,_ I mean..." Her voice lowered to barely a whisper Nancy looked to her blonde friend with sympathy moving her arm so it was around her shoulder, instead of crooked into her arm, she gave the woman the best one armed hug she could muster.

The foursome continued up the long hot roads for about five miles before Abbey almost collapsed, determined not to prove a gun-wielding Matt right Nancy quickly threw Abbey's arm over her shoulders and took the majority of the blonde's weight so she could still walk. Nancy remained like this for a long while before she started realising how parched she was her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth it was so dry. She thought it through and worked out that she hadn't had a drink since leaving the truck she pulled her backpack round so it was in front of her and started rifling through it one handed, her other hand pre-occupied by keeping Abbey stable. She couldn't find any water in her pack though.

"Dammit." She cursed when she realised she hadn't packed any, her breathing had picked up a bit now as she started to feel a little woozy. She reluctantly turned to look at Matt and Bill.

"Hey Matt!" She called over he looked to her.

"What?" He growled clearly still pissed at her she sighed knowing it'd be an argument to get the water out of him now, he'll complain about her not packing any herself, but just as she went to ask for it they heard a strange noise off in the distance.

"Sh!" Bill hissed out as the three of them strained their ears to the sound.

"What is that?" Matt whispered. "Is it a 'copter?!" He asked excitedly looking into the air, Bill joined him both their eyes searching the skies for anything that resembled a helicopter. The sound got closer as they searched the skies. Nancy looked back down the long road ahead of them only to set eyes on what the noise was.

"Matt!" Nancy hissed to him Matt waved a hand at her in a dismissive way.

"Hang on a sec, Nancy it's gettin' closer!" He replied she just rolled her eyes at him.

"Matt, look!"She growled at him and finally his eyes moved to her set in a glare, that was until he saw what she was pointing to and smacked Bill.

"Eyes down bro, we got company!" Matt said raising his hunting rifle to the approaching motorcycle and two maybe three cars Nancy glared at him.

"Matt! Why the guns!?" She hissed at him.

"What if they're hostile?!" He retorted.

"What if they're not?! We might be able to get some supplies off'a 'em, maybe even catch a ride! You wanna risk losing that offer by shoving a gun in their face?!" She growled.

"You wanna risk getting killed for that offer?!" He sneered back she just glared at him but then she realised that the noise had stopped and her eyes moved back to the approaching vehicles to find that they had stopped and now it was people approaching.

After Hershel's farm had got hit bad by walkers the group had lost far too many, Shane, Andrea, two of Hershel's kids not to mention Dale not long before, the few that did survive had just spent the night cold and sleeping in a shady little hideout in the woods after one of the cars ran out of gas. Luckily they'd managed to scavenge some more and were now heading across the nearby towns looting whatever they could until they found a good place to hold up for a while. Daryl was used to living on barely anything though and didn't really understand why Rick was so hell bent on having somewhere to stay for any long period of time, it just begged for more attacks. He could understand for when the baby was coming but they could use one of these abandoned old houses they're looting for that, hell there wasn't much Daryl _did_ understand about Rick. His thoughts about the group came to a quick halt however when he saw three figures walking along the road ahead of them, least he thought it was three. He assumed they were three walkers but the third figure looked strange, like a real big blur, maybe it was just a fat walker. It wasn't until he got closer that he realised there were _four,_ one person was practically carrying the other one he frowned at this, maybe they weren't walkers after all. Daryl positioned himself to one side of the road and fell back so that he was window level with Rick's car.

"What is it?" Rick yelled out to him over their still moving vehicles.

"They ain't walkers that's for sure..." Daryl called back Rick looked sceptical.

"How can you be sure?" He asked Daryl pointed to the two on the left.

"How often you see walkers holdin' each other up like that?" Daryl explained Lori smiled from Rick's side.

"I said the same thing!" She called over to Daryl who just smirked.

"Alright, we'll pull over here, walk up to them, but bring your crossbow, incase they're armed." Rick said Daryl nodded pulling back up in front of him and shutting off his engine. As the others pulled over and got out their cars Daryl got off his bike as Rick quickly explained what was going on and then asked T-Dog and Glenn as long as himself and Daryl to go over while everyone else stayed behind. The three other men started walking over Daryl went to join them but as he lifted his crossbow he realised the strap had got caught on his bike.

Nancy watched as three men approached them her eyes then moved over to Matt with a glare.

"Matt! Put the gun down! There ain't no way y'all are gonna be able to kill all'o them and I ain't gonna help ya!" Nancy hissed, Bill, realising his odds of survival against the other three men were slim, lowered his pistol Matt growled but reluctantly did the same. Nancy nodded and made sure she, and by default Abbey who she was pretty sure had passed out now, approached the three men first. The man in the middle pulled out his pistol and raised it to Nancy and Abbey, Nancy sighed at his action knowing what Matt's reaction would be.

"Is she bit?!" The man with the pistol growled to Nancy when he was a few meters away.

"You wanna get that gun outta my girls face?!" Matt appeared by Abbey's side now lifting his rifle to point at the man in the middle only to have the two other men raise their weapons on him.

"I said is she _bit?!_" The man growled again and Nancy got this strange sensation that she recognised him but she quickly dismissed the thought to respond to him.

"Matt! Put the gun down!" Nancy growled over to him but he ignored her. "No, she ain't bit, it's jus' a cut..." The three men didn't seem to believe her so Nancy moved so that she was holding Abbey in a way that she could reach her wound, the movement only made the man in the middle raise his gun a little more Nancy stopped what she was doing instantly.

"I was jus' gonna show y'all the cut..." She mumbled then the group fell into silence as everyone waited for something to happen. Nancy stared at the man with the pistol for a moment unable to shake the feeling that she recognised him then she started to realise where from, after all it hadn't been that long since she'd last seen him. Her eyes grew wide as another pair of footsteps came running over to join the three of them.

"Hell's goin' on here Rick?" And there with his cross bow pointed at her head stood Daryl Dixon. Her heart felt like it dropped into her stomach and suddenly Daryl dropped his crossbow she assumed that he was looking at her, realising who she was but she didn't know for sure she'd been too terrified to take her eyes off Rick and look at the anger in Daryl's eyes.

"Daryl Dixon?!" A new sensation hit her stomach at Matt's vicious words; worry.

"Matt..." Nancy whispered glaring over to him but she could see that look on his face that he always had at the thought of Daryl, hatred.

"Daryl you know these people?" The asian kid spoke now Nancy brought her eyes up to look at Daryl's and it was almost as painful as she thought it would be only there wasn't anger behind his eyes but sadness, and really that was worse.

"Nancy..." He whispered as he moved to step towards her but Matt was quick to react, jumping between Nancy and all four of the men with his gun trained on Daryl, only to have all four of their weapons pointed back at him.

"Matt! Put the gun down! It's Daryl! We know him!" Nancy growled at him.

"That's exactly why I ain't puttin' this gun down..." He hissed back to her the other men looked between Daryl and Matt.

"Daryl, what's goin' on here?" The middle man asked.

"Oh this asshole ain't nothin' I wouldn't _happily_ deal with, Rick!" Daryl growled back.

"Matt, please.." Nancy huffed licking her lips that were so dry they felt cracked under her tongue.

"Matt? Listen to your girlfriend... Put the gun down, if you know Daryl we got no quarrel with you." The middle man said.

"Oh yes we do! I can't believe you're still with this asshole Nancy!" Daryl growled over the top of Rick's words.

"Matt... Stop..." Nancy huffed doubling over to rest her hands on her knees still with Abbey's limp body hung over her.

"Er, guys, I think there's something wrong with her..." The asian kid spoke again.

"She wasn't bit was she?!" The middle guy again, even though Nancy wasn't looking she could tell Matt wasn't paying attention.

"What's wrong with her, Pecker?!" Daryl spoke now using Matt's last name Nancy heard movement too.

"Don't! Don't go near her!" Matt's voice, Daryl had obviously stepped towards her.

"Matt! Stop it!" Nancy tried to yell with what little energy she had left but it came out like more of a hushed shout.

"We don't need you or anythin' you- ..." Matt stopped himself mid-sentence. "Nancy why the fuck has this piece o'shit got one'a your knives!?" He hissed Nancy's stomach fell once more her head went dizzy she couldn't stand any more she had to rest.

"What.. No... It's..-" She tried explain but she couldn't finish her words before she collapsed to the floor, Abbey along with her.


End file.
